Advice for first time buyer - grateful for any advice!

Wintersoldier91

Hi All 

Just looking for advice. First time buyer looking for mortgage. Joint applicant with partner who has an excellent credit rating, less can be said for myself. I have one settled default from 5 years ago totalling £660. A few settled payday loans on there too from 5 years ago. Missed payments on a phone contract 6 years ago. Currently debt free with no outgoings however I stupidly took out quite a lot of credit cards with the mindset of ‘More is better’ (Yes yes ive learnt my lesson) so i have a utilisation of 0% however 8 credit cards (Silly) Currently have 10% of a deposit for a property I am interested in. Just awarded permanent position at career. Obviously ‘how long is a piece of string approach’ needed but would really appreciate guidance or some success stories if anyone could share?? I’m really eager to keep saving but i really don’t want my misdeeds to affect our lives going forward and want to make sure I am pulling out all the stops. 

Thanks in advance! 

dimbo61

Start by clearing any debts on 5/6 credit cards and then cancelling them.
Keep 2 one for say everyday spending with cashback. Paying for fuel etc

Second card for foreign travel.
Save into LISA ISA,s 

Brie

The current picture will be most important. 

If you have a lot of cards with a lot of available credit some banks will take that into account when you apply.  I was told on my last mortgage application that my bank would only offer X as I had that same amount available, albeit unused, on my credit cards.  Essentially they were taking into account what I could afford if I had both a mortgage and maxed all the cards.  Annoying in some ways but also quite understandable.

Some will say that you should be cautious about cancelling cards while in the application process - not 100% sure why although I realise that they will only have your word that you've cancelled them.

Wintersoldier91

dimbo61 said:

Start by clearing any debts on 5/6 credit cards and then cancelling them.
Keep 2 one for say everyday spending with cashback. Paying for fuel etc

Second card for foreign travel.
Save into LISA ISA,s 

Hi , thank you, I currently have a help to buy ongoing. All debts are clear but debating on closing newest credit cards as they have 0 account balance and i think they just reduce my average time. Thanks for your advice

Wintersoldier91

Brie said:

The current picture will be most important. 

If you have a lot of cards with a lot of available credit some banks will take that into account when you apply.  I was told on my last mortgage application that my bank would only offer X as I had that same amount available, albeit unused, on my credit cards.  Essentially they were taking into account what I could afford if I had both a mortgage and maxed all the cards.  Annoying in some ways but also quite understandable.

Some will say that you should be cautious about cancelling cards while in the application process - not 100% sure why although I realise that they will only have your word that you've cancelled them.

Hi Brie 

Thank you so much for your advice here. currently have almost 15k i available credit but the APR on some are ridiculous and I honestly don’t know why i opened them on reflection. I’m due to start the application process in a couple of months so hopefully now I can close them just to be certain. Two credit cards make up 60% of my Credit Utilisation fees so eager to remove what i can to look nice Thank you!